Word: solos
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...orchestra sawed through three Lewis compositions and one by J. J. Johnson, producing milky overstatements of nice little ideas. Solos by Saxophonist Phil Woods and Vibraharpist Milt Jackson nimbly demonstrated that what would have been fragile, intricate music for a quartet had been made fragmentary, timid music for an orchestra. In his scoring, Lewis seemed barely able to tell his strings from his brass: the violins and cellos were misused in pursuit of inconsequential filigree, while the basses took long and vapid solo runs. Lewis had gone perilously far in the quest to make jazz more respectable without making...
Song of Praise. The first movement is a scorching retelling of "Babi Yar,' Evtushenko's angry denunciation of Soviet antiSemitism. Into a flowing dirge, chanted in solo and choral recitation. Shosta kovich pours rafter-shaking eruptions of drums and orchestra, recapturing his old, uninhibited enthusiasm for color and excitement, rekindling the fire of Evtushenko's poem. The second movement is based on "Humor," a poem that makes the point that tyrants cannot imprison laughter, and the music - perfectly in the spirit of things - becomes impish, light and gay. The third movement, on a poem about a lonely...
...bare outline, and goes on to restate it endlessly with only unimaginative variations. In Limbo, Adam and Eve sing above the theme, which appears in the oboe and strings. On Earth, the Virgin Mary sings the theme against a pedal tone in the celli, and again above a solo violin. At the end of Part I, the inital treatment of the theme returns in the parts of Elizabeth and the large choir. The theme dogs the listener for the remaining two parts, along with other simpler, but equally tiresome, motives. For example, Martin delights in mock marches: everywhere there...
Save for a fine arrangement of Summertime by the band's flutist and guitarist Carl Chase, and a wonderful long solo by Cooke on Blue Grass, the concert didn't really begin until the band's highly impressive vocalist, Liz Filo, swept on stage towards the end of the first set. But Mrs. Filo (who, in a black cocktail dress, improved my frame of mind before she even opened her mouth) picked up band and audience alike, and only set them down, flushed and cheering, after six stunning tunes. The band improved with her very first number, skillfully backing...
...England premiere Friday, rolled out bigger, smoother, and more controlled than anything we could remember the HRO emitting before. Difficult transitions--full orchestra dropping away to unveil a quartet of woodwinds--passed in untroubled succession. Massive string sections--nine violas and eleven cellos--luxuriated in lush tone. A fine solo on the English horn by Barbara Cohen introduced the second movement. And Swoboda provided the histrionics on the podium that are among the reasons for going to a good symphony orchestra...